Leadership Races & Kenya Braces

The World in a Flash

The Round-Up this week we’ve got cyber crimes in Kenya, refugee camp attacks in Nigeria, wiretapping in the US, and party leadership races in Canada.

Kenya’s Tax HackerKenya’s Revenue Agency joined the global list of corporate victims of cyber crime. According to the prosecution, Alex Mutungi Mutuku is part of an international ring of cyber criminals that has stolen money from multiple state bodies. Mutuku, a 28-year-old IT expert, has pled not guilty to the charges. According to the Kenyan cyber crime unit, the country has lost about $220 million (CAD) from hacking in 2016 alone, and ten suspects have been charged. Many western countries have also been embroiled in cyber crime saga’s recently, and it remains to be seen whether Kenya can manage to develop the resources and expertise to combat this emergent threat.

Nigeria’s Refugee Camp Targeted AgainSomewhere between seven and four people are dead, and eight others are injured in the latest attack on the Muna Garage refugee camp in the Maiduguri area that occurred earlier this week. There has been an ongoingdispute over the number of explosions that occurred and the number of casualties and victims, though it is alleged that there were at least three suicide bombs that detonated, burning down several tents. This is the latest in a string of attacks targeting internally displaced persons attempting to escape from Boko Haram. The last major incident was a double suicide bombing at a camp for IDPs in the town of Dikwa that killed 70 people and injured 78. Boko Haram’s now six-year-old insurgency has so far taken 20,000 lives, displaced 2.5 million people, and spread to Nigeria’s neighbours. At least the Nigerian government hasn’t managed to bomb a refugee camp since January, so there’s that.

Trump Wiretapping DramaFollowing President Trump’s explosive comments that former President Obama had wiretapped Trump during the campaign. Turning the investigative process on its head, after making the accusation, the President asked Congress to conduct an inquiry. The President has not released where he got the initial information from, bringing doubt to the legitimacy of the claim. However, House Intelligence Devin Nunes did reveal on Wednesday that the communications of President Trump have been picked up “after the election by intelligence agencies conducting surveillance of foreign targets.” Information is still scarce, and the former president’s involvement has not been concerned. As well, the FBI has announced that it is looking into the Trump’s campaign connection with Russia. Is anyone else tired of watching America win yet?

Party Leadership Races in CanadaCanada’s second and third largest federal parties are currently enthralled in leadership races; hoping to defeat the Liberals in the next federal election. Within the Conservative Party, Maxime Bernier is currently in the lead, in second is former TV star/businessman Kevin O’Leary. O’Leary is said to be gaining in the polls, although there are still questions surrounding his qualifications including bilingualism. The conservative leadership race is also being plagued by ongoing allegations of vote rigging. Although the NDP leadership race isn’t as crowded, there are important issues about the future of the party being raised, including whether it should shift more to the centre. The NDP might even get a hottie of their own out of the race, with GQ photoshoot star (who is also a multilingual criminal lawyer) Jagmeet Singh recently indicating that he’d consider joining the race.

OM In Focus

00:00

00:00

00:00

00:00

00:00

00:00

About

Observatory Media is a current events digital magazine that provides audio, video and written content that showcases the work of academics and young professionals. We work to help our global contributor base, from a wide range of disciples and focuses, reach an engaged audience. The team at Observatory Media is committed to ensuring that all the articles are well researched and allow the reader to further engage with the topic and/or research.